Posts from the ‘Jodi’ Category

Reiki is an ancient spiritual way of channeling healing energy. It is safe, gentle, and can be learned by anyone. It can best be described as a holistic way to balance, heal, and harmonize your mind, body, and spirit. It is, for me, a way of life. It can be for you also.

Once you are attuned to Reiki you will experience a greater sense of inner peace and well-being. You will feel a sense of connection to the Universe and to those around you like never before. You will also become a healer.

Spirited Reiki Level I also has a twist on it! I am a Holistic Health Practitioner and a Certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach. What this means is that I have created a way of learning traditional Usui Reiki and exploring your inner creative spirit — all at the same time! I have been enjoying Reiki for close to 10 years now and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that Reiki starts inside us. If we are at our best, then the Reiki flows at its best!

Spirited Reiki I teaches you the history and theory of Reiki while you paint, write poetry, take a hike, or eat a cupcake! You will also be invited to join my private Facebook group where we will share and experience Reiki together for 30 days.

If you are feeling butterflies in your stomach because you know that this is something you’d like to do, please enter to win a spot — the FB group opens April 23 and attunements will begin shortly after.

One lucky recipient will receive:

*A long distance Level I attunement in traditional Usui Reiki*

*A 79-page printable manual*

*Within this manual is a “30 Days to Self-Healing Journal” that is full of inspiring messages, art and journalling prompts, healthy recipes, affirmations, photography prompts, and so much more!*

*Access to the Spirited Reiki Private Facebook group where you will connect with your fellow Reiki students and where we will further discuss the Principles of Reiki, hand positions, resources, the use of crystals, your creativity and so much more!*

*FB group will open April 23rd so that we can all connect before the attunements begin! Your invitation to the group will arrive on the 22nd (if you’ve already registered) or within 24 hours if after that.

*My guidance and support for the entire 30 days*

*A Certificate of Completion mailed to your home*

***In order to enter, simply leave a comment on this blog post! The winner will be chosen at 8:00 pm eastern on Sunday, April 22, 2012!***

Jodi Lebrun

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Guided imagery. Ugh. For me, these two little words struck fear in my soul when I first heard them referenced in my quest to become a Kaizen Muse. I’ve never done a guided imagery before. I talk too fast, too loud, and I most certainly do not have a calming bone in my body. What the heck was I going to do?

I listened to a series of coaching calls with lovely women offering even lovelier guided imageries. I printed off GI scripts and tried to absorb them by osmosis. That didn’t work either. Then, one night, while I tossed and turned in bed thinking about my dilemma, the words started to flow. At first I tried to ignore them. I love words but these did not feel like my words. They wouldn’t stop. They were persistent, so I hopped out of bed, grabbed one of my sketchbooks, and began to write. I tweaked it the next morning and made it into a document that was perfect for printing and sharing. They were my words. My voice. I was so damn proud of myself!

I can tell you with complete honesty that I still don’t know which part of me produced “The Gift of Happiness,” but it was most certainly an experience for me. I tend to make things happen. This taught me that sometimes we need to just let things happen. We don’t always have to try so hard. With our lives, our families, our work, or our creativity. Sometimes we need to just let things unfold.

I hope you enjoy what I’ve created. I have only used it once and it resulted in my client wrapping up a table in her craft room — not exactly my intention but funny for both of us!

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I took part in my first teleconference today and I rocked it! I’m 39 and I was genuinely terrified to do this call. My husband who has done a thousand of these calls is out of town so I didn’t even have him to lean on. I was on my own. Just me. Okay, let me back up a bit.

I’m going to be a Creativity Coach. An actual Kaizen Muse! This time last year I was a burnt-out daycare provider. I was also an uber-talented photographer (in my own mind) and a wannabe writer. I needed a change. Badly. I felt like I was going to explode. I made the decision to close my daycare and be happily unemployed until I figured out what my next move was. In September 2010 I started my blog, Living Life Photographically. In November 2010 I opened up my first Etsy shop and filled it with my best prints. I joined a few teams and held my breath. I’d never sold anything before and had no idea what I was doing.

One morning in March 2011 I finally got my first sale from a stranger for one of my prints. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I hollered for my hubby to come downstairs to confirm that what I was looking at was my first sale. It was indeed, I’d made my first $30 from my photography! I sold a few more prints after that and I continued to blog my butt off. My readership grew to in the 400’s and I was now lining up guest posters and conversing regularly with some crazy talented women. In the meanwhile I had come across Studio Mothers and Miranda graciously said yes when I e-mailed her to see I was Studio Mother material. I discovered (and have a total girl crush on) Goddess Leonie. I joined her forum and started networking there.

I then got the itch to do something a bit more hands-on with my photography. I’d created my ‘Write’ print and it was selling fantastically. I wanted to be able to offer it to those who didn’t want it as a print. Long story short, I got into the jewelry biz. I shrunk down my images and made jewelry from them. My jewelry then started to outsell my photography so I closed up my Photography by Jodi shop and opened up Creative Life Designs. I transferred over my favorite prints and sold them in this shop instead. It was the best decision. I maintain 1 shop and sales are steadily growing. I was officially a WAHM. I was making my own money!

But something was still missing. I was using my hands to fill my creative need but my brain was craving more. I then came across Miranda’s coaching site and filled out her questionnaire about my creative habits. It took me 45 minutes and I tried to be as honest as possible. It was while answering these questions that I realized I wanted to do more for my fellow creatives. If I could, at 39, have so much fun writing for my blogs (I started a 2nd blog, Creative Life Designs), enjoying my photography and making jewelry, why couldn’t others have this same opportunity? I know that sounds simplistic. I know that not everyone can quit their job tomorrow to pursue their dreams, but what if I could give them a gentle nudge to at least consider this possibility? And if they considered it, what if I could help them realize it? Read more

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I have found a new love! It’s called TtV (through the viewfinder) and I was hooked the minute I saw this post from Julie Bergmann, one of my FB friends and an incredibly creative spirit.

Her link intrigued me — especially with my collection of vintage cams — the main reason I started collecting them was my weird love of the way the pictures look in camera. I love the noise, the light leaks, the vintage feel and the dust! I went to her flickr stream and fell in love!

I searched flickr and found a group with 6600+ members. The pictures were absolutely breathtaking — like I’d stepped into a magical world! So, when I realized that I already had the cameras that would allow me to do this type of photography — my Brownie Hawkeye, my Kodak Duaflex and my Argus 75 — I couldn’t wait to get started!

I needed a bit more technical information about the process so I went to one of my favorite photography sites, JPG, and found this article. It really helped to make sense of it all. Another very informative and goofy site is Photojojo. Their article on TtV really simplifies the process for anyone who’s itching to try it out.

The one thing that I honestly haven’t done yet is to make the contraption that they talk about — the one that joins the 2 cameras together for added stability and so that no light is able to get in. So far, I’ve not been disappointed with any of my shots but, I do plan on rigging up something in the summer, once I can get outside and shoot for extended periods of time. I want the full TtV experience!

The first picture is what the process actually looks like. I’m aiming into the viewfinder of my Brownie Hawkeye and taking a picture of what is in the viewfinder.

The neat thing is that there is no film involved! I use my Canon 7D DSLR and my 100 mm macro lens — this gives me a nice, crisp shot of what is in the viewfinder of my Hawkeye. Here is a SOOC (straight out of camera) shot of what is downloaded from my 7D and before any editing.
﻿

The viewfinder of the Hawkeye.

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I really like that there is not alot of editing involved. I crop out everything but the thick black border — the hallmark of TtV, regardless of the vintage camera that you use — and depending on how I’m feeling, I may saturate, de-saturate or run a vintage action on it.

The final TtV image. I left this one unedited to show you the dreamy, noisy
feel to the image.

My boys through the viewfinder.

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I edited this one of my toddler more true to TtV. Darker, blurrier, and noisy!

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Another characteristic to TtV shots is that they are reversed. I took this picture of an old telephone with my 7D and my Kodak Duaflex IV. You’ll see the letters and numbers are reversed. Some photographers choose to flip the image while editing so that it is visually correct — I don’t. I like the quirky look.
﻿﻿

An old Northern Electric phone done in TtV and sepia-toned.
This image was my very first sale in my Etsy shop! It’s my favorite!

My third TLR (twin lens reflex) camera is an Argus 75 that I found on ebay. It was in great shape and good and dusty! All of the speckles that you see are permanently embedded in the viewfinder. I can’t imagine ever cleaning it! I took this shot in the back of our truck — I balanced the Argus on the edge of the truck and shot straight down.
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Winter in Timmins, ON. All I did to edit this one was slide the saturation up a notch. The sky was beautiful that day!﻿

My husband. Edited to have a 70s feel.

Me. My daughter took this extreme closeup. Boo!

That’s my new love, TtV, in a nutshell. It’s definitely not for everyone — if you like clean, sharp pictures, you probably never made it to the end of this article! Ha! If you’re a lover of noise, speckles and something different — like I am — go and get yourself a Duaflex or an Argus and get shooting!

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I am not a “New Year’s resolutions” maker. If I want to change or accomplish something, I just do it. It seems foolish to wait until a certain date to make changes that you could, if you wanted to badly enough, make right now. But, I do look at the turn of the year as an opportunity to reflect on what I’m doing right (house clean, kids fed, husband smiley) and those things that I’m slacking off at (me time, my career, my outlets, my, my, my…). So, being a photographer who is obsessed with all things photographic, I decided to do things a little different this year. I recently discovered Jamie Ridler and her dreamboards and I really like that they put a picture to an idea. To me this makes it more real, so I borrowed this line of thinking and put my own spin on it!

I have a variety of cameras. My Canon 7D, my Minolta-35 mm, 120 medium formats, and 620 film cams. I also have a great collection of actual Polaroid cameras. They are probably my favorite of all of my ‘vintage’ cameras as they give me instant gratification (not to mention the amazing 70’s feel). So this year I set my main 2011 goals and then photographed them with my Polaroid Spectra 1200.

I recently made the difficult decision to close down my current daycare business in hopes of starting fresh with a photography business. 2011 for me is a completely fresh start and with that comes all new goals that could be set. My primary goal is to get my business established and generating some income. The first picture shows a small portion of my camera gear that is itching to be used in my new business. They also represent the vast amount of stuff that is piling up due to the fact that I don’t have a dedicated space.

Goal #1

Open my Photo Studio -- maybe 1/4 of my photo gear.

My second goal is tied to the first. I have always loved to dabble with paint, pastels, chalk, and all things crafty. I recently discovered that I have the desire to make my own textures and possibly artwork that incorporates my photos. I haven’t exactly narrowed this down — it’s a work in progress for now. All I do know is that I have two easels, sketch pads, watercolor canvases, and more paint, pencils, and chalk than one person probably needs. And they are homeless. They are currently piled up on my tiny desk in my room beside my littlest’s crib. My husband is always banging into them. He’s not very happy about this.

Goal #2

Create an Art Space -- it's piling up!

My third goal may be the one I’m looking most forward to. I am a caregiver by nature. I have run a daycare for 7 years and I have four kids. Before the daycare I was/am still a Certified Personal Trainer (ultimate career where you coddle people — exhausting) and I tried once during the 7 years to go back to work. I found work at the Red Cross doing personal care. In short, most of my adult life has involved me taking care of everyone around me. This year I solemnly vow to make more ‘me time’ and, here’s the kicker, not feel guilty that I could be doing something else. My picture shows my fave Aeropostale slippers and many Lush bath bombs that are unused. One is from Christmas last year! Yuck!

Goal #3

Make more 'me time' -- some of these bathbombs are from last Christmas!

Finally, I have always been a voracious reader. Between my cookbooks piling up in the kitchen, novels on my bedstand, photography and writing books in my office, aka the kitchen table, almost every corner of my home has a pile of books. The problem is that when I finally get the kids to bed, usually by 8, I still seem to have a million things left to do, whether for the current day or to get a jump on tomorrow. By the time I finally get up to bed, my favorite place to read, I fall asleep. I have to give myself permission to leave things for the next day and give myself that extra time to read.

Goal #4

Read more! I would love to finish any one of these!

I am hopeful. All the goals I have set are attainable — or I will make them attainable. I want my own business, I deserve more ‘me time,’ and I need to have a creative outlet — artwork and reading. I have posted the Polaroids on my bulletin board in my kitchen. I will look at them every day and when I accomplish that particular goal I will remove the Polaroid and tuck it away. I may even replace it with a new one!

2011, here I come!

Good luck with your 2011 goals — I’d love to hear about them!

Jodi

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I am a wife and mom to four great kids: 14, 12, 2.5 years, and 8 months old. I live up in Timmins, ON, Canada. I have been running a small home daycare for the past 7 years while I dabble with writing, blogging, mixed-media artforms, reading, cooking, baking, and my biggest passion, photography. I am a collector of vintage cameras (Brownies, Hawkeyes, Minolta), toy cameras (4 and 8 lens), and the proud owner of a Holga, a Diana, and too many Polaroids.

I recently graduated from the New York Institute’s Full Photography course and have committed to opening up my own photography studio where I plan to offer traditional indoor studio sessions and outdoor/location shoots. I also have delusions of grandeur that include my own line of fine art prints (check out my Etsy shop), notecards, templates, and anything else I can create in my little home photo/art studio. I love my Canon 7D and Photoshop Elements 9. Whatever would I do without you?

I look forward to being a part of a community that encourages creativity and family.

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